Monthly Meetings

Here is a photo taken by Grant at our last monthly meeting during the show and tell portion of the meeting. There will be no carving this week the 18th or next week the 24th of March. Our next carving session will be on Wednesday April 1st. We will have our monthly meeting and Helmut and the Moose carving group will be on for the continuing Moose Seminar. Bark Carvers will conclude the house carving the following week but we are ordering a second box of bark so that you can continue to play and experiment with the bark. Perhaps we can do an eagle feather in bark for something different?

Central Fraser Valley Wood Carvers Show and Sale POSTPONED

We normally have our show in May and May is fast approaching. We have decided to postpone our show this year and evaluate what it is that we as a club want out of our show. A group of our carvers are sitting down together to generate some fresh ideas for us and see if they can come up with some exciting things that everyone will be willing to participate in. Stay tuned for more as these hard working folks put together a plan for the future. As club members your input will be called upon in the not to distant future. Stay tuned for more......

Cottonwood Bark Carvings

Here are four small bark carvings. The bark was harvested from downed cottonwood trees located not to far from Carcross, Yukon. It was harvested between Christmas and New Years on a balmy -24 degree Celsius day. It was sunny! and the wind was not blowing. The bark is thin around 2 inches or so. The smallest of the four carvings is about 4 inches tall.

A Yukon Christmas

Last year my brother in law suggested we all come visit him for Christmas in the Yukon. All my adult children thought it was a grand idea. I informed them of the -40C and the expense being a negative kind of person. I also suggested that we forgo Christmas gifts in order to better afford the expense of flying to the Yukon at Christmas.

It did not turn out so bad. The weather was warmer than usual with -24C being the coldest during my stay. It actually went up to +2C before the kids came home but than dropped down to -35C to give them a taste of cool. My second son and his wife flew over from Brisbane where it was 37C so had to experience the most extreme temperature swing.

We went tobogganing and snow shoeing and I got to use a kick sled. We went to a world class dog sledding operation and went out for a few rides with dogs that are training for the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod. You'll have to google those names. All I will say is the run they are training for is about a 1000 miles. The woman Michelle Phillips finished 8th in her first Yukon Quest 10 years ago with -60C. I could tell she was tough when I met her. I did not know her history till later.

We had to drill a hole in lake ice to get water pumped to the house a few times while we were there. That was about 18 inches of work to get through.

The most exciting part of my trip was on the last day. We went to one of the lakes on the route that the miners used to get to the the Klondike Gold Fields. I was in search of gold of my own and I hit pay dirt. Yukon Cottonwood bark. I was able to scavenge a a cooler load and more to fill half a suitcase. I brought it back home with me and now the fun will begin.

Enjoy the photos and next time I'll post some finished bark pictures.

Happy Carving! (as Floyd Rhadigan likes to say)

Carving Shows

Here is a list of Carving Shows you might want to consider taking in.

The Desert Woodcarving Show and Sale in Mesa, Arizona February 14 & 15, 2015.
http://www.desertwoodcarvingshow.com

The Kitsap County Woodcarvers Show in the Bremerton area of Washington on
March 14 & 15, 2015. https://sites.google.com/site/kitsapcarvers/


I wouldn't mend taking in the Mesa show myself. I imagine the weather might be nicer there than here at that time of year.

Artistry in Wood Conclusion

Just a few parting shots from the Dayton Airport. The pilot wouldn't do a flyover of the Expo centre on the way out but trust me it's still there. And next year there will be another show and some nice people are carving some extraordinary things to amaze you. I'll sure try to go again. Been shovelling a lot of rain since I got home. Welcome back to the wet side.

Artistry in Wood Part 4 And the Winners Are!

This fine piece of wearable art caught my eye. It was not entered in the show but it's a good example of caricature carving.

Best of Show

Second Best of Show

Third Best of Show

Another Division Winner by Vic Hood

Division Winner

Rick Jensen. Need I say more? We made this man an Honorary Canadian in 2013.

A Christmas tree full of ornaments. The winning Raffle ticket gets them all. Over 170 ornaments and a tree topper.

So here are a few more pictures to look at. If you haven't started carving the winner for next years show you are probably behind a fair ways. Not all the names of the winners are listed. That is on purpose. I want you to go to the links that will be listed and check out all the official pictures and credits on the Dayton club website. In addition I will post a link to the rest of my pictures now that the worst of them are eliminated. I took pictures of booths and not specific carvings. So if you want a closer look at something you are going to have to go to the show. As for copying something it's all right to carve a replica if you are practicing a skill set but give credit to the originator of the idea. Best of all create your own idea and watch people copy you. Here are the links to the Dayton Artistry in Wood Competition Results Pictures http://www.daytoncarvers.com/competitions.html  Note the 2014 pictures may not be there for a while It takes a while to upload them and the club members are a little tired now that their huge show is done for 2014 so be patient.  In the mean time you can check out pictures of previous years winners.
The link to my personal pictures is https://www.flickr.com/photos/98346140@N02/sets/72157646968953803/   Just paste the web address into your browser and you should be able to get to the sites. If you need help ask a librarian. My pictures are not for commercial use and if you copy them be mindful how you use them. Enough said.